title: Pivotal role for TGF-beta in infectious heart disease: The case of Trypanosoma cruzi infection and consequent Chagasic myocardiopathy.
abstract: This paper summarizes recent data from the literature suggesting that transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) participates at least in four different processes influencing development of myocardiopathy in Chagas disease, a major parasitic illness caused by Trypanosoma cruzi infection: (a) invasion of cardiac fibroblasts and myocytes; (b) intracellular parasite cycle; (c) regulation of inflammation and immune response; (d) fibrosis and heart remodeling during acute and chronic disease. All these effects point to an important role of TGF-beta in Chagas disease myocardiopathy and suggest that monitoring the circulating levels of this cytokine could be of help in clinical prognosis and management of patients. Moreover, TGF-beta-interfering therapies appear as interesting adjuvant interventions during acute and chronic phases of T. cruzi infection.
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Biologia Celular, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. taniaaj@ioc.fiocruz.br
authors.forename: Tania C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Araújo-Jorge
authors.forename: Mariana C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Waghabi
authors.forename: Maria de Nazaré C
authors.initials: Mde N
authors.lastname: Soeiro
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Keramidas
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bailly
authors.forename: Jean-Jacques
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Feige
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002598:Chagas Cardiomyopathy / Q000209:etiology* / Q000276:immunology; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000276:immunology*; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta / Q000502:physiology*; D014349:Trypanosoma cruzi / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta